The meeting was called to order at 7:38 p.m. and the following members were present:

Victor CalabrettaBetty Hubbard

Barry HollandJean
Macgregor Brown

Richard Ventrone

Not present:

Gary Girard

Andrew Kallfelz

Also present:

Lisa Bryer, AICP – Town Planner

Cinthia Reppe – Recording Clerk

John Murphy – Attorney

George Gifford– Landscape Architect -Gifford Design
Group

Ron Kershaw – P. E.

Connie Slick

Jacqueline Zannini
– Architect

Peter Brockmann – Attorney

Eric Privie - DiPrete Engineering

Commissioner Calabretta welcomed the newest member of the Planning
Commission Richard Ventrone.

I. Approval of Minutes from September 7th, 2005

A motion was made by Commissioner Hubbard and seconded by
Commissioner Holland to accept the minutes as amended on page 2,Old Business 1, 4th
and 5th sentence should read:

Commissioner Holland wanted an exclusion made for the Town
Tree Warden and we should exclude the phrase that includes
railroads.Commissioner Girard amended
the motion to include the changes in the ordinance and
Commissioner Kallfelz…..So unanimously voted.Commissioners Calabretta and Ventrone abstain.

II. Correspondence

1.FYI – Memo to the Zoning board Re: Somyk.Received

2.FYI- Memo to the Zoning board Re: Bilow.
Received

3.FYI – Memo to the Zoning board Re: Buglio.Received

III. Citizen’s Non Agenda Item – nothing at this
time

IV. Reports

1.Town Planner’s Report

They are going to be closing on
the properties on Cedar Lane
on September 30, 2005 and
she along with a few members from the Affordable Housing Committee will be
attending a meeting on Housing Trust Funds and Housing Land Trusts on Thursday.

2.Chairpersons report

3.Town Committees

a.Harbor

b.FortGetty

The Committee will be having a
meeting tomorrow with the consultant and they will be meeting twice a month now
until the Land Use Plan is completed.

c.Buildings
and Facilities – They have not met since our last meeting.The Town Hall project is moving along.

d.Others

Commissioner Holland said the Tree
Committee will be working at the TownForest this Saturday to haul brush
and they are looking for volunteers.

Attorney John Murphy representing
Connie Slick stated that she will be moving to Jamestown
and live in one of the units above the Dentist office, since her husband passed
away.She will be adding a garage and additional
living space above it.There will be no
change to the use of the building, the same business and same number of
apartments will be there so there will be no additional parking requirements.They will be going before the zoning board
for an amended special use permit because she is increasing the size of the
building and therefore intensifying the use of the building.

George Gifford, Landscape
Architect, Gifford Design Group made a presentation addressing some of the
issues that were addressed back in 1996 when they went before the zoning
board.They are proposing to add some
screening in the rear of the property and some additional vegetation to the
front of the building.Mr. Gifford
explained the landscaping plan and explained some of the trees and shrubs on
the property and stated there are two trees that should be cut down in the rear
of the property.

They had to relocate the parking
on the south part of the property to accommodate the proposed garage.Ron Kershaw, Engineer is here to address any
drainage questions. Mr. Gifford discussed the permeable surface and there are
some maintenance issues that Mrs. Slick is concerned about regarding runoff
issues.

Commissioner Ventrone
asked about the pavers that will be used at the entrance to the driveway to
prevent gravel spill onto the sidewalk and road.He questioned what the paver
material will be.They have not decided
yet but they are looking at something like cobblestone.

Mr. Kershaw will calculate the
runoff now and the potential runoff with whatever material they decide to
use.They want to avoid tying into the
town or state system.There will be an
increase in the runoff but they will maintain it on site.Mr. Murphy stated that Mr. Kershaw will work
with the Town Engineer in adequately handling runoff.

Commissioner Calabretta asked what
they would be signing off on now, since there is not anything definitive on the
plan.Mr. Murphy asked the engineer if
there was any question about the abilities to accommodate the run off on site
and the engineer answered no.Commissioner Holland asked
about drawing number 3, is that the paved surface?Commissioner Ventrone
asked about the parking in the back of building what will the surface be?Mrs. Slick said
that it is gravel now and when it snows it always ends up on the sidewalk or in
the street after plowing and they have to shovel it back into place.Very time consuming and labor intensive and
it will be difficult for her now as a widow.She would like to have a more stable surface for the entire driveway,
such as pavers or asphalt.Pavers would
be very costly for the whole driveway.

Commissioner Brown asked if Lisa
is comfortable with the plan?Ms. Bryer said she is concerned about a
completely impervious site but she is confident that the Town can work with the
applicant’s engineer to accommodate drainage mitigation. Commissioner Ventrone stated he would not like to see asphalt, but Mrs.
Slick stated no one can see the area in the back and that they are proposing
pavers along the first stretch of driveway.

Commissioner Hubbard asked about
the façade treatment.Jacqueline Zannini the architect, said it
will be the same material and color of the existing building.

Commissioner Calabretta likes the
plan.Commissioner Hubbard went back to
the parking and with the new scheme the parking is extremely tight.She asked if they can forego the trees
against the fence and get the additional 5 feet in the parking area.Mrs. Slick said that parking has never been
an issue. Mr. Gifford says this plan complies with the building regulations.
Commissioner Calabretta said he wants them to show the 18 foot lines on the
parking spaces.Mrs. Slick said she is
willing to make any changes to go ahead with the plans.Commissioner Brown said she has personal
experience with parking in the lot and there was never a problem because of the
limited volume and number of patrons at one time for the Dentist office.Commissioner Ventrone
stated it has never appeared to be a problem in the past.

Attorney John Murphy stated they
have to go to the Zoning Board and they could add to that a variance for a
narrower setback for parking from the property line, required to be 5
feet.They are willing to take it to the
zoning board if that is the desire of the Planning Commission. Commissioner
Holland said which ever way they go they must go
before the zoning board for a variance because it is either encroaching on the
5 foot setback or a variance for not having spaces that accommodate a 9 x 18
foot space for vehicles.

The Planning Commission would like
to see either cobblestone or brick in the driveway.They can approve with provisions that the
drainage be approved administratively.Applicant is asking for a positive recommendation to the zoning board
for a special use permit and variance.

A motion was made by Commissioner
Calabretta to approve the site plan as presented with the following:parking redrawn with proper dimensions and
cobblestone to be used in the front entrance or granite pavers, there will be
no increase in runoff, and the drainage to be approved administratively and
this to be forwarded to the Zoning Board with a recommendation of approval of
variances and amended special use permit.Commissioner Holland seconded the motion.

Commissioner Calabretta recuses himself, leaves the table and turns the meeting
over to Commissioner Hubbard.

Amy Barclay asked the Town Planner
today if the board could continue this item since she would like more time to
review it.She has a disabled child at
home and it makes it difficult for her to get out of the house.Attorney Peter Brockmann stated that the
abutter had plenty of time to review this and we are not in favor of a
continuance.

Attorney Brockmann representing
the applicant Steven Perry STD Builders, said some
changes have been made to the plan.The
changes that are now before you are a reduction of the footprint of the house,
1300-1400 total square footage, the fill has been completely eliminated and
they have resubmitted the application to DEM showing the changes and they have
since approved it.They have attempted
to address all of the concerns of the Planning Commission.

Commissioner Ventrone
said they are building in a 16 inch water table, next to a swamp, and there are
people living there already having major problems with water. Commissioner Ventrone doesn’t think this conforms to what they are
looking for in terms of minimum impact to either the site or the surrounding
area.Commissioner Brown is on the fence
on this application since this is one of the wettest lots to come before us but
the applicant has done what we have suggested and she gives them a lot of
credit for trying to make this work.She
also said they are very determined to listen to what we have said and she is
confident that DEM would not have approved an ISDS if it was hazardous.Commissioner Ventrone
has an issue with it conforming to the minimal impact standards.In all good conscience he doesn’t see minimal
impact.Commissioner Holland disagrees
with Commissioner Ventrone and that the applicant has
met the criteria set up in the regulations and the engineering for a 100 year
storm.If the engineering calculations
are right it could and should be better for the neighborhood stated
Commissioner Brown.Commissioner Ventrone stated that putting more houses there will make
the problem worse.

Commissioner Hubbard asked the
engineer a question about contour 59.Commissioner Hubbard brought up the footprint issue and the square
footage issue that the planning commission has previously discussed regarding a
worse case scenario lot.Commissioner
Hubbard brought up that this is one of the worst lots and it should adhere to
the minimum impact standard of 800 sq. ft. and footprint of 600 sq. ft.

Commissioner Brown said she thinks this will
be the best engineered house on the street and she feels that minimum impact
was intended for the neighbors.Commissioner Holland and Commissioner Hubbard discussed how engineering
will or will not improve drainage on a lot.The retention system that was designed to capture the water,
and it could make it better but there is no guarantee.It works on paper but we won’t know until it
is constructed.

Leo Errar
– Riptide St. – they come
with a different engineer every time.They built a house near me and now I have problems with my house.

Debra D’Agastino
– Steamboat St. showed the Planning Commission some
pictures from a storm in April.It is
designed to maintain the proposed house drainage, it
is not designed to fix all the abutters problems.

Commissioner Ventrone
commented it should be a houseboat design, I don’t mean to be a wise guy.

Charlotte Zarlengo
– obligation of this board is to protect this town.Even considering development in this area
should not be considered.Any house in
this area of any size should not be allowed or considered.Look at Louisiana.

Mr. Brockmann stated a property
owner has a right to build unless the town pays for the lot.He has the right to build,
it covers 6.29 % of the lot.Their job
is to not exacerbate the problem.For
the record this is the same engineering firm just a different representative
from this firm.This could end up in
Superior court and the town will either have to approve or pay for the
lot.

A motion was made by Commissioner Ventrone to send a memo to the Zoning Board recommending
denial of this application because it does not meet the minimum impact
standards as listed in the ordinance.

Richard Ventrone
– AyeBetty Hubbard – Aye

Jean Macgregor–Brown –NayBarry Holland - Nay

This motion was neither approved
nor denied, since 2 members were in favor of the motion and 2 members were
not.No action was taken and a memo will
be sent to the Zoning Board of Review stating this.

A motion was made by Commissioner
Hubbard and seconded by Commissioner Brown to adjourn the meeting at 9:35 p.m.So unanimously voted.